June 6, 2025 • 48 mins
History's Greatest Crimes 🏛️🔪
The execution of Joan of Arc on May 30, 1431, stands as a harrowing testament to the complexities of justice and power in 15th century France. Accused of heresy, witchcraft, and defying gender norms, this young woman became both a symbol of national hope and an embodiment of societal fears. As the flames engulfed her at the stake, the question loomed: was she a criminal deserving of death, or a victim of an egregious miscarriage of justice? We explore the multifaceted narrative surrounding her life, her divine claims, and the political machinations that led to her trial and execution. In this discussion, we unravel the layers of her story, examining how the very definitions of crime and justice were manipulated by those in power, leaving us to ponder the true meaning of her legacy.
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Takeaways:
- Joan of Arc was executed for alleged heresy, witchcraft, and defying gender norms, raising questions about justice.
- The Hundred Years War created a desperate context that allowed Joan's claims of divine guidance to resonate.
- Her trial was rife with irregularities, lacking impartiality, and aimed at discrediting her and Charles VII.
- Despite her execution, Joan's legacy was rehabilitated posthumously, influencing perceptions of faith and authority.
- Her story embodies a complex interplay of gender, power, and faith, challenging societal norms of her time.
- Joan's journey from condemned heretic to canonized saint illustrates the evolving nature of historical narratives.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(01:28):
Rowan, Normandy, May 30, 1431.
A young woman, barely 19,stands chained to a stake in the
old market Square.
Flames lick her feet.
Her crime?
Heresy.
Witchcraft.
Dressing as a man.
But as the smoke rises, so toodoes a question that has haunted
history for centuries.
Was Joan of Arc truly acriminal or the victim of one of
(01:51):
history's most calculated andcruel injustices?
Welcome to history's greatest crimes.
I'm Elena.
And I'm Michael.
Today we delve into the fieryordeal of a figure who became a legend.
Joan of Arc, the Maid of Orleans.
Witnesses to her executiondescribe a scene of both horror and
profound piety.
(02:12):
One such account from thosepresent note her final moments.
Quote, she listened calmly tothe sermon read to her, but then
broke down weeping during herown address, in which she forgave
her accusers for what theywere doing and asked them to pray
for her.
Several eyewitnesses recalledthat she repeatedly screamed the
holy name of Jesus andimplored the aid of the saints until
(02:34):
her head drooped and she was gone.
The executioner himself, a mannamed Geoffrey Terrage reported,
quote, greatly feared beingdamned because he had burned a saint.
This immediate reaction, thisfear from the man tasked with her
death tells us something profound.
The English authorities,nervous about the sentiment, quickly
(02:57):
moved to punish those whospoke in her favor.
It suggests that the officialnarrative of Joan as a justly condemned
heretic wasn't universally accepted.
Not even in moments followingher death.
The crime was contested fromthe very smoke and ashes of her pyre.
This sets the stage for ourentire inquiry.
(03:17):
Was the crime Joan's alleged heresy?
Or was the true criminalityembedded in the very process that
led to the St?
(03:40):
To understand Joan and thecrime she was accused of, we have
to plunge into the brutalrealities of 15th century France.
The Hundred Years War had beenraging between the kingdoms of England
and France since 1337.
And it was destined to go onuntil 1453, making the name of the
war a misnomer since itactually lasted 116 years.
(04:02):
In total, this was the longestand widest ranging military conflict
since Rome's wars withCarthage in the 3rd and 2nd centuries
BCE.
Now to be clear, the HundredYears War wasn't a continuous war
in which people fought without stopping.
Rather, it was a series ofoccasional battles that took place
between varying lengths oftruces between France and England
(04:26):
both.
But even though it wasn'tcontinuous, the war was still a big
deal to people who experienced it.
So what caused this super longwar then?
Elena?
In short, the Hundred YearsWar was about power and land.
In the 1300s, the king ofEngland was not only the ruler of
England, but also the duke ofa small region in eastern France
(04:46):
called Gascony.
The kings of England had cometo control this region when King
Henry II of England marriedEleanor of Aquitaine back in 1152,
through which England acquiredher French territory, which included
Gascony.
But fast forward to the 1330s,when the king of France died without
an heir.
The current King, Edward ofEngland, was actually the deceased
(05:09):
French king's closest male relative.
But there was no way theFrench nobility was going to stand
for an English king on theFrench throne.
Instead, they chose a Frenchrelative, more distantly related.
This was Philip VI to be thenew King of France.
Let me guess.
King Edward of England wasn'thappy with this turn of events.
(05:31):
That would be correct, Michael.
King Edward of England refusedto recognize the authority of the
new French king, whichprompted King Philip of France to
seize Gascony and announcethat it now belonged to the Kingdom
of France.
And King Edward of Englanddeclared war on France in response.
But the war was over 100 years old.
Were the kings and theirkingdoms real still angry about everything
(05:53):
even at that point?
No.
While the war started out as adynastic struggle between England
and France, the governments onboth sides actively worked to frame
it as a battle between entirekingdoms and their peoples.
They used extensive propagandathat demanded loyalty and sacrifice
from the people.
And it was actually duringthis war that nobility that the nobility
(06:15):
and kings and queens inEngland began to turn away from speaking
French as their first languageand and started promoting the use
of English for each side.
Their identity was shaped bytheir stance and opposition to the
other kingdom.
By the early 1420s, France wason its knees.
This is somewhat unexpected,since the kingdom of France was actually
(06:38):
richer and had a largerpopulation than that of England.
But the English won battlesbecause their soldiers were better
disciplined and trained, andthey relied heavily on the longbow.
That's right, Michael.
The longbow was used byarchers to shoot arrows at the enemy.
And as indicated by its name,it was quite large, between 5 and
6ft long, some even longer.
(07:00):
This bow could fire arrowsalmost 300 yards.
Furthermore, English archerswere able to fire around 20 arrows
per minute, and each arrowdelivered somewhere between 90 and
130 pounds of force.
This was often enough to slidethrough a knight's armor like a knife
in Jello.
(07:21):
Due to the superiority of theEnglish army and their weapons, the
English actually managed tocapture the French King Jean II in
battle in the year 1350.
6.
The Lords of France ultimatelygave the English a lot of money to
get their king back, and theyalso had to give even more French
territory to the English.
That's pretty bad.
(07:42):
Yep, and it got only worsefrom there.
In 1450, an army of 6,000English soldiers won a battle against
20,000 French ones due tothose famous English archers we mentioned
a moment ago.
As a result, the current kingof England, now Henry V, forced the
current French king to giveHenry his daughter in marriage and
(08:03):
name Henry heir to the French throne.
That's bad news for the formerFrench king's son, Charles of Valois,
who was no longer heir to thethrone as a result.
And he couldn't do much aboutit because his treasury was so depleted.
It was said to hold less thanfour Equus at one point.
In short, France was afractured kingdom, a land desperate
(08:26):
for a savior, for a sign ofhope, any hope.
The suffering of the commonpeople was immense, as described
by a Parisian diarist of thetime lamenting how many had been,
quote, turned out of theirhomes, thrust forth as if they were
animals.
End quote.
This profound political andmilitary despair created a unique
(08:47):
psychological landscape.
When a society is in such deepcrisis, when conventional solutions
have failed, it becomesfertile ground for the acceptance
of extraordinary claims forfigures who seem to offer a divine
way out.
And to add to that, the 15thcentury was already a period where
belief in prophecy, mysticismand direct divine intervention was
(09:12):
strong.
The widespread suffering andperceived moral failings on all sides
led many to believe that God'sjustice would ultimately manife,
perhaps through unexpected means.
Jones emergence, therefore,wasn't just a random event.
It was in part a symptoms ofFrance's desperation and its readiness
to believe in a divinely sent rescuer.
(09:35):
I absolutely agree.
Into this cauldron of chaosand yearning stepped Jean Dark, aka
Joan of Arc.
Born around 1412 in the smallvillage of Domremy on the borderlands
of Champagne and Lorraine.
She was the daughter of tenant Fr.
Farmers Jacques d' Arc andIsabella Rome, and by all accounts
(09:57):
grew up an ordinary,illiterate, but deeply pious young
woman devoted to the teachingsof the Catholic Church.
But around the age of 13, Joanbegan to experience something far
from ordinary.
She described it herselfduring her trial, words that would
later be used to condemn her.
She stated that, quote, when Iwas of the age of 13 years or thereabouts,
(10:20):
she did with her bodily eyessee St.
Michael come to comfort her.
And from time to time, also St.
Gabriel, sometimes also.
She had seen a great multitudeof angels since then, St Catherine
and St Margaret have shownthemselves to her in bodily form.
These were not fleeting impressions.
She claimed to see them, tohear their voices daily, even to
(10:43):
kiss and embrace them, totouch them physically.
The messages from thesecelestial visitors evolved.
Initially, they focused onpersonal piety.
As Joan testified, her firstvoice told her to, quote, govern
her herself well and go tochurch often, end quote.
But as Frances situationworsened, the messages grew more
(11:06):
urgent, more specific andprofoundly political.
She recounted that, quote, thevoice told her twice or thrice a
week that she must leave homeand go to France, meaning to the
Dolphins court, and that herfather knew nothing of her departure.
Her divine mission, as shecame to perceive it, was monumental.
(11:28):
To save France by expellingits enemies and to install Charles
as its rightful king.
This conviction and a divinemandate, while extraordinary, resonated
with a segment of the French population.
As scholar Jane Marie Pinzinonotes, there was a prevailing belief
that victory in battle issuedfrom divine justice rather than military
(11:51):
power.
The evolution of this missionis striking.
It began with personalspiritual guidance and transformed
into a detailed plan fornational salvation, perfectly aligning
with the desperate politicalneeds of the dauphines cause as the
English laid siege to Orleansand central France, a strategic keystone,
(12:14):
Joan's voices specificallycommanded her to save that city and
then lead Charles to Reims forhis coronation.
While Joan's personalsincerity is largely accepted by
historians, the interpretationand framing of her mission, both
by herself and by those whorallied to her, were undeniably shaped
(12:36):
by this critical political juncture.
The very claims of divinerevelation that would later form
the core of her crime wereinitially the primary reasons for
her astonishing rise.
(13:05):
Imagine the scene at the courtof the Dolphin Charles in Chenon,
France in early 1429.
A teenage peasant girl,dressed in men's clothes for the
protection on her perilousjourney arrived, claiming she had
been sent by God to save the kingdom.
She had to be incredibly persistent.
Robert de Baudricourt, thelocal magistrate, initially dismissed
(13:27):
her.
But Joan didn't give up.
And according to historicalaccounts, she began attracting a
small band of followers whobelieved her claims to be the virgin
who was destined to save France.
Prophecy was potent currencyin the 15th century, and the ones
that existed laid a fertileground for Joan.
(13:47):
A contemporary play, LaMystere du siege d' Orleans, vividly
portrayed this culturalexpectation of prophetic intervention
in times of national crisis.
With God himself dispatchingthe Archangel Michael to find a pucella,
a maid, AKA a young unmarriedwoman, presumably a virgin, to save
(14:09):
France.
Joan, it seemed to a desperatefew fit this prophetic mold.
She even reportedly convincedBaldricourt, the local magistrate,
by accurately predicting aFrench defeat near Orleans before
official news arrived.
After an 11 day journey acrossenemy territory, Joan finally gained
(14:29):
an audience with Charles.
Eyewitnesses from the courtlater recalled her demeanor.
Quote, most illustrious LordDauphin, I have come and I am sent
in the name of God to bringaid to you in the kingdom.
The most famous story, the onethat seemed to have swayed Charles,
was her revelation of a secretprayer he had made to God.
(14:50):
Details only he could know.
One account stated.
After hearing her, the kingappeared radiant.
These signs were critical in asociety where divine intervention
was considered a tangible reality.
Such proofs lent immensecredibility to her claims, except
especially for a leader asbeleaguered as Charles.
(15:13):
The court theologians, thoughcautious, found nothing inherently
heretical in her initialstatements and seeing little to lose,
suggested sending her toOrleans as a test of her divine mission,
the very thing that wouldlater be twisted into heretical crime.
Her claim to divine revelationwas, in this initial phase, her greatest
(15:36):
asset.
Charles, against the advice ofmost of his counselors, took the
gamble.
He granted Joan an army.
She was equipped with white armor.
She also had an ancient swordthat was famously discovered through
Joan's direction, buriedbeneath an altar in the local church.
And she had a white banneremblazoned with the names of Jesus
(15:57):
and Mary and an image ofChrist in judgment.
In late April 1429, shearrived at the besieged city of Orleans.
Wow, what a mental image.
And just as today, the peopleat the time were also astonished
at this vision of a woman whowould supposedly save France.
And Joan's image and impactwas electric.
(16:19):
Contemporary accounts describeher presence galvanizing the demoralized
French troops.
Joan was no mere figurehead.
She was an active participant,demanding offensive action from seasoned
commanders like Jean, Count ofDunois, the bastard of Orleans, as
his nickname suggested, he wasrelated to the royal family through
illegitimate means, but heheld considerable influence with
(16:40):
Prince Charles.
So that was a pretty ballsyattitude for a young peasant woman
to assume towards those whowere superior to her in societal
status.
Absolutely, Elena.
And this confidence is alsoevident in the first ultimatum she
issued to English commandersaround March 22, before her armies
even reached Orleans and facedthe English armies.
(17:02):
I love the wording of her ultimatum.
It said, quote, king ofEngland and you, Duke of Bedford,
who call yourself regent ofthe kingdom of France, render account
to the King of heaven.
Surrender to the maid who issent here by God, the King of heaven.
The keys of all the good townsthat you have taken and violated
(17:23):
in France.
King of England, if you do notdo these things, I am the commander
of the military, and inwhatever place I shall find your
men in France, I will makethem flee the country.
She comes sent by the King ofheaven to take you out of France.
By that time, in mid March1429, the siege of Orleans had already
(17:46):
dragged on for a grueling 210 days.
Located in central Francesouth of Paris, the city of Orleans
was the last obstacle for thesuccessful English campaign into
central France.
And many believe that whoevercontrolled Orleans, the English or
the French, that's who, wouldwin the war.
So this was an incrediblyimportant battle.
(18:08):
But then Joan of Arc arrivedwith French armies, and nine days
later, on May 8th of 1429, thesiege was lifted in favor of the
French.
During the decisive assault onthe English, Joan, true to her own
prediction, was wounded by anarrow between her neck and shoulder.
Apparently, she had told herconfessor the day before that quote,
(18:31):
tomorrow blood will flow frommy body above my breast.
Yet she apparently quicklyreturned to fight, her banner in
hand, her famous cry, quote,in God's name, charge.
Boldly inspiring the French toa stunning victory.
Joan's primary militarycontribution, particularly at Orleans,
(18:51):
seems to have been less aboutconventional tactical genius and
more about her extraordinaryability to inspire and embody divine
approval.
In an era where battles wereoften viewed as trials by combat
subject to God's will, afigure believed to be divinely sent,
leading the religious symbolsand unshakeable conviction had an
(19:13):
immeasurable psychological impact.
Her wounding and ability tocontinue fighting could also have
been interpreted as sent byGod and miraculous.
This success, however, madeher an even greater abomination to
the English.
English leaders did not denyJoan's supernatural power, but they
attribute it to the devilrather than God and his saints.
(19:36):
Orles was a monumentalvictory, but for Joan, it was only
the first step.
Her divine mission, as sheunderstood it, included seeing Charles
formally crowned at Reims, thetraditional site for the consecration
of French kings.
Located deep within now enemyheld territory in northeastern France,
this was not just a militaryobjective, but a profoundly symbolic
(19:59):
act of legitimization.
The Loire campaign was thefirst step towards that goal.
As French armies movednorthward, volunteers of men and
supplies swelled the Frencharmy eager to serve under Joan of
Arc's banner.
One by one, Englishstrongholds fell.
The campaign culminated in theBattle of paty on June 18, 1429.
(20:22):
An English reinforcement armyrushed from Paris to stop Joan and
her forces.
But the English army suffereda paralyzing defeat during which
their Framed longbowmen were overwhelmed.
This was the first significantfield victory for French forces in
many years.
The English commanders, theEarl of Suffolk and Lord Talbot,
were taken prisoner.
(20:43):
In this campaign, Joan'sinfluence was again pivotal.
She persuaded a hesitantPrince Charles to press the advantage
and advance on Reims.
When many of his counselorsadvised caution.
The march to reams became atriumphal procession.
City after city yielded tosiege or simply opened its gates
(21:04):
to the Dauphine, Auxerre,Troff, Chalon and Reims itself.
End quote.
On July 17, 1429, Charles VIIwas solemnly crowned and anointed
King of France at ReimsCathedral, with Joan in full armor
and bearing her standard athis side.
The contemporary poetChristine de Pizan, who had been
(21:25):
writing from the seclusion ofan abbey, broke her long silence
to compose the Tale of Joan ofArc, the only significant literary
work about Joan written duringher lifetime.
It captures the elation andwonder of the moment.
Quote and you, Charles, nowthe King of France, the seventh king
of that great name who earliersuffered such mischance, you thought
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the future held more shame andbut by God's grace, now look how
Joan has raised your fame onhigh oc your enemies before you bow.
This is a welcome novelty.
End quote the coronation atReims was a symbolic apex of Joan's
perceived mission.
It powerfully legitimizedCharles VII as the King of France.
(22:11):
And by direct extension, thecoronation also validated Joan's
divine guidance in the eyes ofa significant portion of the French
populace.
However, this very triumphsolidified her status as an intolerable
political and ideologicalthreat to the English.
If Joan was truly sent by God,as her string of victories seemed
(22:31):
to indicate to the French,then the English cause was by implication
opposed by God.
This made discrediting Joanand the divine source of her power
an urgent political necessityfor her enemies.
Her crime, therefore, had tobe framed as an offense against God
and the Church and toundermine the very legitimacy she
had bestowed upon Charles VIIof France.
(22:54):
Indeed, a key English motivefor her later trial was precisely
to illegitimize King Charlescrowning by associating him with
a heretic.
(23:25):
In July of 1429, everythingseemed to be going Joan's way.
The French armies, with Joanat the lead, had been successful
in multiple important battles,and the French prince had been crowned
King Charles vii.
After the coronation at Reims,Joan, brimming with confidence, urged
an immediate attack on thecity of Paris, which was still under
(23:46):
the control of the English andtheir allies.
But King Charles vii, nowcrowned, began to Waver.
Some of the king's courtierswarned him that Joan was becoming
too powerful, perhaps too independent.
The assault on Paris inSeptember of 1429 was a bloody failure.
Joan herself was wounded inthe thigh by a crossbow bolt while
(24:08):
trying to rally her men.
This defeat significantlydamaged her prestige.
One contemporary chronicle,reflecting a pro English Parisian
viewpoint, offered a scathingaccount of the aftermath.
The anonymous author writesthat the retreating French soldiers
cursed their maid bitterly,for she had promised them that Paris
(24:29):
would certainly fall to theirassault, that she would sleep there
that night, and so would theyall, that they would all be made
rich with the city's wealth,and anyone who resisted would be
cut down or burned in his house.
She broke promises, and thisfueled disillusionment.
Despite the setback, Joancontinued to fight.
(24:50):
In the spring of 1430, sherushed with a small force of volunteers
to the defense of a Frenchtown north of Paris.
It was currently beingbesieged by Burgundian forces under
Philip the Good, who wasallied with the English.
On May 23, during a daringsortie from the town, Joan was cut
off.
(25:10):
Accounts suggest that thetown's drawbridge may have been raised
prematurely.
Whether by mistake or designis debated, but this trapped her
and her rear guard.
Outside, she was pulled fromher horse by a Burgundian archer
and captured.
One Burgundian chroniclerrecorded the elation of Joan's captors.
The English and Burgundianswere quote, rejoiced and more pleased
(25:34):
than if they had taken 500other combatants, for they dreaded
no other leader or captain somuch as they had hitherto feared
the maid.
In stark contrast, KingCharles vii, the man whose crown
Joan had helped to secure,made no attempts to save her.
Charles VII's failure toransom or even attempt to rescue
(25:54):
Joan speaks volume about thebrutal political calculus of the
era.
Having served her primarypurpose, his coronation, Joan, with
her claims of direct divineauthority and her immense popularity,
may have become thenpolitically inconvenient, maybe even
a threat to the king and his council.
The Archbishop of Reims,Renauld de Char, who had initially
(26:18):
supported her, even nowaccused her of acting willfully and
rejecting counsel.
After her capture, it seemedthat the crime Joan was about to
be tried for by her enemieswas in a way facilitated by that
calculated inaction of thoseshe had so fervently served.
And her capture was a goldenopportunity for the English to neutralize
(26:41):
a potent symbol and a fearedmilitary adversary.
Joan was initially a prisonerof war held by John of Luxembourg,
a vassal of the Duke ofBurgundy, ally of the King of England.
But the English wanted her andthey wanted her tried by the Church.
The University of Paris, atthe time a staunchly pro English
institution, quickly wrote tothe Duke of Burgundy urging him to
(27:05):
turn Joan over to theInquisition or to Bishop Pierre Cauchon
of Beauvais.
Bishop Conchon was a key figure.
He was a zealous supporter ofthe English cause, and Joan had been
captured within hisecclesiastical diocese of Beauvais
in northern France, giving hima claim to jurisdiction.
(27:25):
He would ultimately be thechief presiding judge in her trial.
For a substantial sum of10,000 francs, Joan was sold by John
of Luxembourg to the Englishin November 1430.
She was then transferred totheir main administrative and military
headquarters in France, thecity of Rouen, located on the northwestern
France near the Normandy coast.
(27:47):
And the English motive forthis ecclesiastical trial was transparently
political.
English authorities wanted todiscredit Charles VII by demonstrating
that he owed his coronation toa witch, or at least a heretic.
Bishop Cauchon himself, in theopening of the trial, declared his
(28:08):
intent to inquire into actsquote contrary to the orthodox faith,
not only in our diocese, butin many others committed by Joan.
This trial was from itsinception, a political weapon meticulously
disguised as a pursuit ofreligious justice.
The ecclesiastical courtprovided the necessary veneer of
(28:30):
legitimacy for what was inessence, a state sponsored character
assassination designed toachieve a predestined outcome.
The charges against Joan,after months of preliminary investigation,
were eventually distilled into12 articles of accusation.
These articles weren'tprimarily about her actions on the
battlefield, but about thevery nature of her faith, her claims
(28:54):
of divine revelation, and herperceived defiance of church authority
and societal norms.
Some of these Articles ofAccusation noted Joan's certainty
of future events and occultknowledge through her saints revelations,
such as identifying unknownmen or a hidden sword.
Others questioned Joan'spreference for wearing men's clothes.
(29:17):
Joan had apparently claimedthat she was wearing such clothing
by God's command, refusing towear female attire even to receive
the Eucharist.
Yes, the accusations in the 12articles are a bit all over the place.
They emphasized her act ofsigning her name with Jesus Maria
and a cross, and of sometimeswarning that those who disobeyed
(29:38):
her would be killed by divineblows, claiming to act only by God's
revelation.
They also criticized her veryaction of leaving her parents against
their wishes at the age of 17to die, join the prince and wage
war.
The last article reveals howmuch Joan's confidence and refusal
to submit to their authorityfrustrated church leaders and theologians.
(30:01):
Apparently, Joan continued toreiterate refusal to do anything
contrary to God's commands,and would not submit her revelations
to the judgment of the Churchonly to God.
In essence, the chargespainted Joan as a dangerous heretic
who listened to demonicvoices, arrogantly defied the authority
of the Church, and grotesquelytransgressed against established
(30:25):
gender norms, all of whichwere capital offenses punishable
by death.
The opening of the trialrecorded itself, framed her actions
as utterly disregarding whatis honorable in the female sex, breaking
the bounds of modesty andforgetting all female decency.
And directly following thatstatement, it further condemns her,
(30:45):
stating that Joan, quote, haddisgracefully put on the clothing
of the male sex a striking andvile monstrosity contrary to the
Catholic faith, end quote.
This construction of her crimewas strategically brilliant for her
accusers.
It cleverly wove togetheraccusations of theological heresy,
such as claiming direct,unmediated revelation from God and
(31:10):
challenging the Church'sinterpretive authority.
And it also noted charges ofprofound social transgression, most
notably her adoption of maleattire and her role as a military
leader.
This dual approach broadenedthe perceived basis of her condemnation
and aimed to alien her fromvarious segments of society.
(31:30):
Her gender transgression, inparticular was explicitly linked
to heresy by the theologiansof the court.
The crime was not a singleact, but a pattern of behavior that
fundamentally challenged thepatriarchal and ecclesiastical power
structures.
The 15th century.
(32:08):
The formal trial of Joan ofARC began on February 21, 1431, in
Rowan.
Picture this scene.
A young woman, barely 19,uneducated in the complex subtleties
of theology and canon law,facing a formidable assembly of learned
doctors, bishops, abbots and lawyers.
(32:29):
In all, some 131 assessorsparticipated, almost all French,
but all firmly aligned withthe English cause.
Jones stood alone.
She had no lawyer to advise ordefend her.
Despite the immensepsychological pressure, the lack
of counsel, and the overtlyhostile environment, Jones responses,
(32:50):
meticulously recorded in thetrial transcripts, reveals astonishing
courage, native wit, and anunwavering conviction in her mission
and her faith.
When asked the loaded questionof whether she knew whether she was
in God's grace, a questiondesigned to trap her into either
presumption or despair, shefamously replied, if I am not, may
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God place me there.
If I am, may God so keep me.
I should be the saddest in allthe world if I knew that I were not
in the grace of God.
Regarding her voices andvisions, she was unshakable.
Joan reportedly stated thatall I have done is by our Lord's
command.
I have done nothing in theworld but by the order of God.
(33:36):
End quote.
When repeatedly pressuredabout submitting her words and deeds
to the judgment of the Church,Joan made a crucial distinction.
She affirmed, quote, I believesurely that our Lord, the Pope of
Rome, the bishops and otherclergy are established to guard the
Christian faith and punishthose who are found wanting therein.
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But as for me, for my doings,I submit myself only to the heavenly
church, that is to say, toGod, to the Virgin Mary, and to the
saints in paradise, end quote.
On the contentious issue ofher male attire, she remained resolute.
She explained that, quote, Iwould rather die than revoke what
God has made me do, end quote.
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She also offered a starklypractical reason for her clothing.
A chilling indictment of her captors.
She said, quote, while I havebeen in prison, the English have
molested me when I was dressedas a woman.
I have done this to defend mymodesty, end quote.
This claim of attempted sexualassault in prison was a serious matter,
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highlighting the dangers she faced.
Joan also presented aremarkably sophisticated theological
stance for being an unletteredpeasant girl.
She refused to submitunconditionally to the Church, that
is the earthly institutionrepresented by the very court trying
her.
But she continued to affirmher submission to God, Christ and
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the saints in heaven.
This was, in fact, asophisticated stance, and, as you
noted, Elena, but it was alsoan incredibly perilous stance.
By drawing this distinction,she implicitly challenged the absolute
authority of Bishop Cauchon'scourt to judge the matters that she
believed were directlyordained by God.
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If individuals could bypassthe earthly Church and appeal directly
to divine authority, then theChurch's role as the sole intermediary
and arbiter of faith wasfundamentally undermined.
This, from the court'sperspective, was the very essence
of heresy.
Her intelligence and what herjudges called skillfully evasive
(35:43):
answers clearly frustrated andangered her accusers.
Joan of Arc's trial, whichtook place February 21, 1431, was
riddled with flaws, even whenmeasured against the legal standards
of the 15th century.
Modern scholars like DanielHobbins, in his work the Trial of
Joan of Arc, emphasized this,and a review of his book bluntly
(36:05):
states that Bishop Cauchon,quote, violated every canon of a
fair trial and abused hisoffice, end quote.
The list of proceduralirregularities and violations of
canon law is extensive.
There was a clear lack of impartiality.
The court was packed with proEnglish and Burgundian clerics.
Bishop Cauchon himself haddeep political and financial ties
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to the English.
Jones suffered illegal prisonconditions and accused of heresy.
She should have been held in achurch prison guarded by nuns to
protect her modesty and ensurefair treatment.
Instead, she was kept in asecure military prison, chained and
guarded by English soldiers,exposing her to constant threat and
(36:50):
abuse.
We also can't forget thatdespite Joan's youth and ignorance
of complex legal andtheological arguments, she was effectively
denied legal counsel.
When Bishop Cauchon offeredJoan a choice of advisor from among
the very assessors who werepart of the prosecution, Joan perhaps
wisely refused, stating sherelied on the counsel of her lord.
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During the trial, questionswere often designed as theological
traps, too subtle even forsome of the judges.
There's evidence that notarieswere pressured, and the official
record itself may have beenselectively edited.
One examiner, who reportedlytried to counsel Joan Fairley, incurred
Bishop Cauchon's wrath and wasactually forced to flee the city
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of Rowan.
And Joan apparently repeatedlyrequested that her case be taken
to the pope, right under canon law.
But this appeal wasconsistently ignored or denied by
Bishop Cauchon.
Perhaps the most contentiouspart of the trial took place on May
24, 1431.
After being forced to listento a public sermon and under direct
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threat of immediate executionby burning, Joan signed a form of
abjuration, a documentrenouncing her visions and her male
clothing.
The exact content of what shesigned and whether she fully understood
it is heavily debated.
As noted before, Joan wasmostly illiterate.
Some sources even suggestedthat the document read to her was
(38:18):
different from the one she marked.
Just days later, Joan foundherself once again wearing men's
clothing in her cell.
Joan stated she resumed themto protect herself from sexual assaults
by the guards, or that herfemale clothing had been taken away.
Some accounts even suggest themale clothes were deliberately left
by the guards to entrap her.
Upon this relapse, BishopCauchon reportedly exclaimed to the
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English commander, the Earl ofWarwick, farewell.
Be of good cheer.
It is done.
End quote.
A chilling indication that atrap had been successfully sprung.
This charge of being arelapsed heretic was the legal linchpin
for her execution.
Under canon law, the firsttime heretic who abjured could be
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sentenced to life imprisonment.
But a relapsed heretic facedcertain death.
The entire sequence, theintense pressure to abjure, the highly
suspicious circumstances ofher resuming male attire, and the
swift final condemnationstrongly suggests a carefully orchestrated
legal maneuver designed toensure her death while maintaining
the facade of a due process.
(39:26):
The argument that her gendertransgression, wearing men's clothes
was central to hercondemnation as a heretic is kind
of compelling.
Theologians at the trial citedDeuteronomy, which forbids women
from wearing men's apparel,and argued that to claim God commanded
such an act was blasphemy.
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Her defiance of traditionalgender roles was seen as an affront
to the natural and divineorder, a visible sign of her alleged
inner heresy.
On May 30, 1431, Joan of Arcwas officially condemned as a relapsed
heretic and handed over to thesecular authorities for execution.
As the church itself did notcarry out death sentences, the University
(40:08):
of Paris, which had beeninstrumental in her prosecution,
had already determined that ifshe persisted in her errors, she
would be her inevitable fateof death.
And as we recounted at thebeginning of our episode, Joan's
execution in the old marketsquare of Rowan was a public spectacle
intended to serve as a grimwarning and to solidify the verdict
(40:32):
of heresy in the public mind.
The bailiff, who had served asthe executor of Ritz during the trial
and accompanied Joan to thestake later testified at her nullification
trial.
He described her deep piety inher final moments.
She repeatedly asked for across, and an English soldier, moved
by pity, quickly fashioned asmall one for her out of two pieces
(40:54):
of wood, which she kissed andplaced in her bosom.
A formal crucifix was alsobrought from a nearby church and
held before her.
As the flames rose,eyewitnesses, including some of the
judges and English soldiers,were reportedly moved to tears by
her courage and her final prayers.
She died, it is said, with thename of Jesus repeatedly on her lips.
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To prevent the gathering ofany relics that might foster a cult
of martyrdom, her body wasordered to be burnt three times and
her ashes were collected andthrown into the Sin River.
(41:46):
But the story doesn't end inthe ashes.
Twenty years later, thepolitical landscape of France had
dramatically shifted.
The Hundred Years War betweenEngland and France officially ended
in 1453.
Charles VII was firmlyestablished on the French throne,
and the English had beenlargely driven out of France.
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It was in this new contextthat a process began to re examine
Joan's condemnation.
This was the NullificationTrial, also known as the Rehabilitation
Trial, formally initiated in1450 and concluding in 1456.
It was prompted by a petitionfrom Joan's elderly mother Isabelle
Rome and her two brothers andand authorized by Pope Calixtus iii.
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The express purpose, as statedin the records, was quote to investigate
whether the trial ofcondemnation and its verdict had
been handled justly andaccording to ecclesiastical law.
An extensive investigation was undertaken.
Around115 witnesses were interviewed.
Villagers who knew Joan in herchildhood, soldiers who fought alongside
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her, citizens of Orleans, and,significantly, several members of
the original 1431 tribunal itself.
Their testimonies painted apicture of Joan that was starkly
different from the oneconstructed by her accusers.
The findings of thenullification trial were formally
announced on July 7, 1456.
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They stated that the earlier1431 trial and sentence were declared
null, invalid, worthless,without effect, and annihilated,
end quote.
The court found the originaltrial to be tainted by, quote, fraud,
calumny, iniquity andcontradiction, and manifest errors
of fact and of law.
End quote.
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Joan of Arc was officiallycleared of all charges and her honor
restored.
The nullification trialmeticulously documented the numerous
errors of the first trial, theblatant partiality of the judges,
particularly Bishop Cauchon,the violent and intimidating conditions
of Joan's imprisonment, themalevolent behavior of her guards,
the use of insidious andtrapping questions, the falsification
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of articles of accusation, andthe abjuration obtained through extreme
duress and likely deceit.
A key finding was that thecondemnation trial had deliberately
excluded or suppressedeyewitness testimonies that would
have been favorable to Joan, agrave procedural violation.
The nullification trial wasnot merely about correcting a past
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judicial error for Joan's sakeor for her families.
It was also an act of profoundpolitical significance for King Charles
vii.
His reign had been irrevocablylegitimized by Joan's victories,
which were attributed todivine sanction.
Her condemnation as a hereticand a witch, therefore cast a dangerous
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shadow on his own piety andhis right to rule.
Thus, clearing Joan's name wasalso essential for clearing any stain
from his own.
Joan of Arc's journey fromcondemned heretic to recognized saint
was a long one.
She was beatified by theCatholic Church in 1909 and finally
canonized as St.
Joan of Arc on May 16, 1920,by Pope Benedict XV.
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Her legacy is extraordinarilycomplex and has been claimed by an
astonishingly diverse array ofgroups across the centuries.
She is, of course, apreeminent national heroine of France,
a potent symbol of Frenchunity, patriotism and resistance
against foreign invaders.
And French politicians fromacross the political spectrum, from
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the left to the far right,have invoked her image to support.
Their causes beyond France.
She's often viewed as an earlyfeminist icon, a young woman who
shattered the oppressivegender roles of her time, leading
armies and directly advising kings.
Her contemporary, thepioneering female writer Christine
de Pizan, celebrated Joan ashaving a heart quote greater than
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any man's Historian.
Helen Castor, in her biographyof Joan, observes that Joan of Arc
is a hero championed by suchvastly different religious and political
groups that her story becomesboth deeply unique and universally
resonant.
Yet Castor also wisely notesthat it becoming all things to all
people, the complex, oftencontradictory human girl has sometimes
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been lost to myth.
Joan was, as Castor quotesfrom one perspective, quote, a symbol,
not a savior, end quote.
A phrase that captures theendearing tension between her perceived
divine role and the harshpolitical realities that ultimately
consumed her.
This enduring power ofambiguity and reinterpretation is
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perhaps the key to her lasting fascination.
Joan's story, her motivations,the true nature of her visions, these
remain subjects of debate and wonder.
Was she divinely inspired?
Well, Joan clearly thought so.
Did she suffer from someneurological condition?
Some have speculated thatmight have been the case.
Even you, maybe, dear listeners.
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But most scholars find littleevidence for such claims, noting
she displayed none of thetypical objective symptoms?
Or was she simply a youngwoman of extraordinary conviction
and courage in a time thatdesperately needed both?
The last one seems the mostlikely to me, but maybe it was a
little of all three.
We'll never fully know.
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The crimes she was accused ofheresy, witchcraft, defying the church,
wearing men's clothing are not static.
For her accusers in 1431, itwas a clear cut case, or at least
one that they were determinedto make appear.
So for later generations, thecrime might be seen as the profound
injustice she suffered or hercourageous defiance of oppressive
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conventions.
Her story continues to forceeach era to confront its own definitions
of faith, authority, genderand justice.
Her story, raw and resonanteven after six centuries, forces
us to ask fundamental questions.
Who defines what a crime is?
And when the powerful twistlaws and religion to serve their
(48:00):
own ends, who then are thetrue criminals in history's unforgiving
gates?
That's all for now.
Until next time.
Stay curious.
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Sat.
Rowan, Normandy, May 30, 1431.
A young woman, barely 19,stands chained to a stake in the
old market Square.
Flames lick her feet.
Her crime?
Heresy.
Witchcraft.
Dressing as a man.
But as the smoke rises, so toodoes a question that has haunted
history for centuries.
Was Joan of Arc truly acriminal or the victim of one of
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history's most calculated andcruel injustices?
Welcome to history's greatest crimes.
I'm Elena.
And I'm Michael.
Today we delve into the fieryordeal of a figure who became a legend.
Joan of Arc, the Maid of Orleans.
Witnesses to her executiondescribe a scene of both horror and
profound piety.
(02:12):
One such account from thosepresent note her final moments.
Quote, she listened calmly tothe sermon read to her, but then
broke down weeping during herown address, in which she forgave
her accusers for what theywere doing and asked them to pray
for her.
Several eyewitnesses recalledthat she repeatedly screamed the
holy name of Jesus andimplored the aid of the saints until
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her head drooped and she was gone.
The executioner himself, a mannamed Geoffrey Terrage reported,
quote, greatly feared beingdamned because he had burned a saint.
This immediate reaction, thisfear from the man tasked with her
death tells us something profound.
The English authorities,nervous about the sentiment, quickly
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moved to punish those whospoke in her favor.
It suggests that the officialnarrative of Joan as a justly condemned
heretic wasn't universally accepted.
Not even in moments followingher death.
The crime was contested fromthe very smoke and ashes of her pyre.
This sets the stage for ourentire inquiry.
(03:17):
Was the crime Joan's alleged heresy?
Or was the true criminalityembedded in the very process that
led to the St?
(03:40):
To understand Joan and thecrime she was accused of, we have
to plunge into the brutalrealities of 15th century France.
The Hundred Years War had beenraging between the kingdoms of England
and France since 1337.
And it was destined to go onuntil 1453, making the name of the
war a misnomer since itactually lasted 116 years.
(04:02):
In total, this was the longestand widest ranging military conflict
since Rome's wars withCarthage in the 3rd and 2nd centuries
BCE.
Now to be clear, the HundredYears War wasn't a continuous war
in which people fought without stopping.
Rather, it was a series ofoccasional battles that took place
between varying lengths oftruces between France and England
(04:26):
both.
But even though it wasn'tcontinuous, the war was still a big
deal to people who experienced it.
So what caused this super longwar then?
Elena?
In short, the Hundred YearsWar was about power and land.
In the 1300s, the king ofEngland was not only the ruler of
England, but also the duke ofa small region in eastern France
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called Gascony.
The kings of England had cometo control this region when King
Henry II of England marriedEleanor of Aquitaine back in 1152,
through which England acquiredher French territory, which included
Gascony.
But fast forward to the 1330s,when the king of France died without
an heir.
The current King, Edward ofEngland, was actually the deceased
(05:09):
French king's closest male relative.
But there was no way theFrench nobility was going to stand
for an English king on theFrench throne.
Instead, they chose a Frenchrelative, more distantly related.
This was Philip VI to be thenew King of France.
Let me guess.
King Edward of England wasn'thappy with this turn of events.
(05:31):
That would be correct, Michael.
King Edward of England refusedto recognize the authority of the
new French king, whichprompted King Philip of France to
seize Gascony and announcethat it now belonged to the Kingdom
of France.
And King Edward of Englanddeclared war on France in response.
But the war was over 100 years old.
Were the kings and theirkingdoms real still angry about everything
(05:53):
even at that point?
No.
While the war started out as adynastic struggle between England
and France, the governments onboth sides actively worked to frame
it as a battle between entirekingdoms and their peoples.
They used extensive propagandathat demanded loyalty and sacrifice
from the people.
And it was actually duringthis war that nobility that the nobility
(06:15):
and kings and queens inEngland began to turn away from speaking
French as their first languageand and started promoting the use
of English for each side.
Their identity was shaped bytheir stance and opposition to the
other kingdom.
By the early 1420s, France wason its knees.
This is somewhat unexpected,since the kingdom of France was actually
(06:38):
richer and had a largerpopulation than that of England.
But the English won battlesbecause their soldiers were better
disciplined and trained, andthey relied heavily on the longbow.
That's right, Michael.
The longbow was used byarchers to shoot arrows at the enemy.
And as indicated by its name,it was quite large, between 5 and
6ft long, some even longer.
(07:00):
This bow could fire arrowsalmost 300 yards.
Furthermore, English archerswere able to fire around 20 arrows
per minute, and each arrowdelivered somewhere between 90 and
130 pounds of force.
This was often enough to slidethrough a knight's armor like a knife
in Jello.
(07:21):
Due to the superiority of theEnglish army and their weapons, the
English actually managed tocapture the French King Jean II in
battle in the year 1350.
6.
The Lords of France ultimatelygave the English a lot of money to
get their king back, and theyalso had to give even more French
territory to the English.
That's pretty bad.
(07:42):
Yep, and it got only worsefrom there.
In 1450, an army of 6,000English soldiers won a battle against
20,000 French ones due tothose famous English archers we mentioned
a moment ago.
As a result, the current kingof England, now Henry V, forced the
current French king to giveHenry his daughter in marriage and
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name Henry heir to the French throne.
That's bad news for the formerFrench king's son, Charles of Valois,
who was no longer heir to thethrone as a result.
And he couldn't do much aboutit because his treasury was so depleted.
It was said to hold less thanfour Equus at one point.
In short, France was afractured kingdom, a land desperate
(08:26):
for a savior, for a sign ofhope, any hope.
The suffering of the commonpeople was immense, as described
by a Parisian diarist of thetime lamenting how many had been,
quote, turned out of theirhomes, thrust forth as if they were
animals.
End quote.
This profound political andmilitary despair created a unique
(08:47):
psychological landscape.
When a society is in such deepcrisis, when conventional solutions
have failed, it becomesfertile ground for the acceptance
of extraordinary claims forfigures who seem to offer a divine
way out.
And to add to that, the 15thcentury was already a period where
belief in prophecy, mysticismand direct divine intervention was
(09:12):
strong.
The widespread suffering andperceived moral failings on all sides
led many to believe that God'sjustice would ultimately manife,
perhaps through unexpected means.
Jones emergence, therefore,wasn't just a random event.
It was in part a symptoms ofFrance's desperation and its readiness
to believe in a divinely sent rescuer.
(09:35):
I absolutely agree.
Into this cauldron of chaosand yearning stepped Jean Dark, aka
Joan of Arc.
Born around 1412 in the smallvillage of Domremy on the borderlands
of Champagne and Lorraine.
She was the daughter of tenant Fr.
Farmers Jacques d' Arc andIsabella Rome, and by all accounts
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grew up an ordinary,illiterate, but deeply pious young
woman devoted to the teachingsof the Catholic Church.
But around the age of 13, Joanbegan to experience something far
from ordinary.
She described it herselfduring her trial, words that would
later be used to condemn her.
She stated that, quote, when Iwas of the age of 13 years or thereabouts,
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she did with her bodily eyessee St.
Michael come to comfort her.
And from time to time, also St.
Gabriel, sometimes also.
She had seen a great multitudeof angels since then, St Catherine
and St Margaret have shownthemselves to her in bodily form.
These were not fleeting impressions.
She claimed to see them, tohear their voices daily, even to
(10:43):
kiss and embrace them, totouch them physically.
The messages from thesecelestial visitors evolved.
Initially, they focused onpersonal piety.
As Joan testified, her firstvoice told her to, quote, govern
her herself well and go tochurch often, end quote.
But as Frances situationworsened, the messages grew more
(11:06):
urgent, more specific andprofoundly political.
She recounted that, quote, thevoice told her twice or thrice a
week that she must leave homeand go to France, meaning to the
Dolphins court, and that herfather knew nothing of her departure.
Her divine mission, as shecame to perceive it, was monumental.
(11:28):
To save France by expellingits enemies and to install Charles
as its rightful king.
This conviction and a divinemandate, while extraordinary, resonated
with a segment of the French population.
As scholar Jane Marie Pinzinonotes, there was a prevailing belief
that victory in battle issuedfrom divine justice rather than military
(11:51):
power.
The evolution of this missionis striking.
It began with personalspiritual guidance and transformed
into a detailed plan fornational salvation, perfectly aligning
with the desperate politicalneeds of the dauphines cause as the
English laid siege to Orleansand central France, a strategic keystone,
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Joan's voices specificallycommanded her to save that city and
then lead Charles to Reims forhis coronation.
While Joan's personalsincerity is largely accepted by
historians, the interpretationand framing of her mission, both
by herself and by those whorallied to her, were undeniably shaped
(12:36):
by this critical political juncture.
The very claims of divinerevelation that would later form
the core of her crime wereinitially the primary reasons for
her astonishing rise.
(13:05):
Imagine the scene at the courtof the Dolphin Charles in Chenon,
France in early 1429.
A teenage peasant girl,dressed in men's clothes for the
protection on her perilousjourney arrived, claiming she had
been sent by God to save the kingdom.
She had to be incredibly persistent.
Robert de Baudricourt, thelocal magistrate, initially dismissed
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her.
But Joan didn't give up.
And according to historicalaccounts, she began attracting a
small band of followers whobelieved her claims to be the virgin
who was destined to save France.
Prophecy was potent currencyin the 15th century, and the ones
that existed laid a fertileground for Joan.
(13:47):
A contemporary play, LaMystere du siege d' Orleans, vividly
portrayed this culturalexpectation of prophetic intervention
in times of national crisis.
With God himself dispatchingthe Archangel Michael to find a pucella,
a maid, AKA a young unmarriedwoman, presumably a virgin, to save
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France.
Joan, it seemed to a desperatefew fit this prophetic mold.
She even reportedly convincedBaldricourt, the local magistrate,
by accurately predicting aFrench defeat near Orleans before
official news arrived.
After an 11 day journey acrossenemy territory, Joan finally gained
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an audience with Charles.
Eyewitnesses from the courtlater recalled her demeanor.
Quote, most illustrious LordDauphin, I have come and I am sent
in the name of God to bringaid to you in the kingdom.
The most famous story, the onethat seemed to have swayed Charles,
was her revelation of a secretprayer he had made to God.
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Details only he could know.
One account stated.
After hearing her, the kingappeared radiant.
These signs were critical in asociety where divine intervention
was considered a tangible reality.
Such proofs lent immensecredibility to her claims, except
especially for a leader asbeleaguered as Charles.
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The court theologians, thoughcautious, found nothing inherently
heretical in her initialstatements and seeing little to lose,
suggested sending her toOrleans as a test of her divine mission,
the very thing that wouldlater be twisted into heretical crime.
Her claim to divine revelationwas, in this initial phase, her greatest
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asset.
Charles, against the advice ofmost of his counselors, took the
gamble.
He granted Joan an army.
She was equipped with white armor.
She also had an ancient swordthat was famously discovered through
Joan's direction, buriedbeneath an altar in the local church.
And she had a white banneremblazoned with the names of Jesus
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and Mary and an image ofChrist in judgment.
In late April 1429, shearrived at the besieged city of Orleans.
Wow, what a mental image.
And just as today, the peopleat the time were also astonished
at this vision of a woman whowould supposedly save France.
And Joan's image and impactwas electric.
(16:19):
Contemporary accounts describeher presence galvanizing the demoralized
French troops.
Joan was no mere figurehead.
She was an active participant,demanding offensive action from seasoned
commanders like Jean, Count ofDunois, the bastard of Orleans, as
his nickname suggested, he wasrelated to the royal family through
illegitimate means, but heheld considerable influence with
(16:40):
Prince Charles.
So that was a pretty ballsyattitude for a young peasant woman
to assume towards those whowere superior to her in societal
status.
Absolutely, Elena.
And this confidence is alsoevident in the first ultimatum she
issued to English commandersaround March 22, before her armies
even reached Orleans and facedthe English armies.
(17:02):
I love the wording of her ultimatum.
It said, quote, king ofEngland and you, Duke of Bedford,
who call yourself regent ofthe kingdom of France, render account
to the King of heaven.
Surrender to the maid who issent here by God, the King of heaven.
The keys of all the good townsthat you have taken and violated
(17:23):
in France.
King of England, if you do notdo these things, I am the commander
of the military, and inwhatever place I shall find your
men in France, I will makethem flee the country.
She comes sent by the King ofheaven to take you out of France.
By that time, in mid March1429, the siege of Orleans had already
(17:46):
dragged on for a grueling 210 days.
Located in central Francesouth of Paris, the city of Orleans
was the last obstacle for thesuccessful English campaign into
central France.
And many believe that whoevercontrolled Orleans, the English or
the French, that's who, wouldwin the war.
So this was an incrediblyimportant battle.
(18:08):
But then Joan of Arc arrivedwith French armies, and nine days
later, on May 8th of 1429, thesiege was lifted in favor of the
French.
During the decisive assault onthe English, Joan, true to her own
prediction, was wounded by anarrow between her neck and shoulder.
Apparently, she had told herconfessor the day before that quote,
(18:31):
tomorrow blood will flow frommy body above my breast.
Yet she apparently quicklyreturned to fight, her banner in
hand, her famous cry, quote,in God's name, charge.
Boldly inspiring the French toa stunning victory.
Joan's primary militarycontribution, particularly at Orleans,
(18:51):
seems to have been less aboutconventional tactical genius and
more about her extraordinaryability to inspire and embody divine
approval.
In an era where battles wereoften viewed as trials by combat
subject to God's will, afigure believed to be divinely sent,
leading the religious symbolsand unshakeable conviction had an
(19:13):
immeasurable psychological impact.
Her wounding and ability tocontinue fighting could also have
been interpreted as sent byGod and miraculous.
This success, however, madeher an even greater abomination to
the English.
English leaders did not denyJoan's supernatural power, but they
attribute it to the devilrather than God and his saints.
(19:36):
Orles was a monumentalvictory, but for Joan, it was only
the first step.
Her divine mission, as sheunderstood it, included seeing Charles
formally crowned at Reims, thetraditional site for the consecration
of French kings.
Located deep within now enemyheld territory in northeastern France,
this was not just a militaryobjective, but a profoundly symbolic
(19:59):
act of legitimization.
The Loire campaign was thefirst step towards that goal.
As French armies movednorthward, volunteers of men and
supplies swelled the Frencharmy eager to serve under Joan of
Arc's banner.
One by one, Englishstrongholds fell.
The campaign culminated in theBattle of paty on June 18, 1429.
(20:22):
An English reinforcement armyrushed from Paris to stop Joan and
her forces.
But the English army suffereda paralyzing defeat during which
their Framed longbowmen were overwhelmed.
This was the first significantfield victory for French forces in
many years.
The English commanders, theEarl of Suffolk and Lord Talbot,
were taken prisoner.
(20:43):
In this campaign, Joan'sinfluence was again pivotal.
She persuaded a hesitantPrince Charles to press the advantage
and advance on Reims.
When many of his counselorsadvised caution.
The march to reams became atriumphal procession.
City after city yielded tosiege or simply opened its gates
(21:04):
to the Dauphine, Auxerre,Troff, Chalon and Reims itself.
End quote.
On July 17, 1429, Charles VIIwas solemnly crowned and anointed
King of France at ReimsCathedral, with Joan in full armor
and bearing her standard athis side.
The contemporary poetChristine de Pizan, who had been
(21:25):
writing from the seclusion ofan abbey, broke her long silence
to compose the Tale of Joan ofArc, the only significant literary
work about Joan written duringher lifetime.
It captures the elation andwonder of the moment.
Quote and you, Charles, nowthe King of France, the seventh king
of that great name who earliersuffered such mischance, you thought
(21:50):
the future held more shame andbut by God's grace, now look how
Joan has raised your fame onhigh oc your enemies before you bow.
This is a welcome novelty.
End quote the coronation atReims was a symbolic apex of Joan's
perceived mission.
It powerfully legitimizedCharles VII as the King of France.
(22:11):
And by direct extension, thecoronation also validated Joan's
divine guidance in the eyes ofa significant portion of the French
populace.
However, this very triumphsolidified her status as an intolerable
political and ideologicalthreat to the English.
If Joan was truly sent by God,as her string of victories seemed
(22:31):
to indicate to the French,then the English cause was by implication
opposed by God.
This made discrediting Joanand the divine source of her power
an urgent political necessityfor her enemies.
Her crime, therefore, had tobe framed as an offense against God
and the Church and toundermine the very legitimacy she
had bestowed upon Charles VIIof France.
(22:54):
Indeed, a key English motivefor her later trial was precisely
to illegitimize King Charlescrowning by associating him with
a heretic.
(23:25):
In July of 1429, everythingseemed to be going Joan's way.
The French armies, with Joanat the lead, had been successful
in multiple important battles,and the French prince had been crowned
King Charles vii.
After the coronation at Reims,Joan, brimming with confidence, urged
an immediate attack on thecity of Paris, which was still under
(23:46):
the control of the English andtheir allies.
But King Charles vii, nowcrowned, began to Waver.
Some of the king's courtierswarned him that Joan was becoming
too powerful, perhaps too independent.
The assault on Paris inSeptember of 1429 was a bloody failure.
Joan herself was wounded inthe thigh by a crossbow bolt while
(24:08):
trying to rally her men.
This defeat significantlydamaged her prestige.
One contemporary chronicle,reflecting a pro English Parisian
viewpoint, offered a scathingaccount of the aftermath.
The anonymous author writesthat the retreating French soldiers
cursed their maid bitterly,for she had promised them that Paris
(24:29):
would certainly fall to theirassault, that she would sleep there
that night, and so would theyall, that they would all be made
rich with the city's wealth,and anyone who resisted would be
cut down or burned in his house.
She broke promises, and thisfueled disillusionment.
Despite the setback, Joancontinued to fight.
(24:50):
In the spring of 1430, sherushed with a small force of volunteers
to the defense of a Frenchtown north of Paris.
It was currently beingbesieged by Burgundian forces under
Philip the Good, who wasallied with the English.
On May 23, during a daringsortie from the town, Joan was cut
off.
(25:10):
Accounts suggest that thetown's drawbridge may have been raised
prematurely.
Whether by mistake or designis debated, but this trapped her
and her rear guard.
Outside, she was pulled fromher horse by a Burgundian archer
and captured.
One Burgundian chroniclerrecorded the elation of Joan's captors.
The English and Burgundianswere quote, rejoiced and more pleased
(25:34):
than if they had taken 500other combatants, for they dreaded
no other leader or captain somuch as they had hitherto feared
the maid.
In stark contrast, KingCharles vii, the man whose crown
Joan had helped to secure,made no attempts to save her.
Charles VII's failure toransom or even attempt to rescue
(25:54):
Joan speaks volume about thebrutal political calculus of the
era.
Having served her primarypurpose, his coronation, Joan, with
her claims of direct divineauthority and her immense popularity,
may have become thenpolitically inconvenient, maybe even
a threat to the king and his council.
The Archbishop of Reims,Renauld de Char, who had initially
(26:18):
supported her, even nowaccused her of acting willfully and
rejecting counsel.
After her capture, it seemedthat the crime Joan was about to
be tried for by her enemieswas in a way facilitated by that
calculated inaction of thoseshe had so fervently served.
And her capture was a goldenopportunity for the English to neutralize
(26:41):
a potent symbol and a fearedmilitary adversary.
Joan was initially a prisonerof war held by John of Luxembourg,
a vassal of the Duke ofBurgundy, ally of the King of England.
But the English wanted her andthey wanted her tried by the Church.
The University of Paris, atthe time a staunchly pro English
institution, quickly wrote tothe Duke of Burgundy urging him to
(27:05):
turn Joan over to theInquisition or to Bishop Pierre Cauchon
of Beauvais.
Bishop Conchon was a key figure.
He was a zealous supporter ofthe English cause, and Joan had been
captured within hisecclesiastical diocese of Beauvais
in northern France, giving hima claim to jurisdiction.
(27:25):
He would ultimately be thechief presiding judge in her trial.
For a substantial sum of10,000 francs, Joan was sold by John
of Luxembourg to the Englishin November 1430.
She was then transferred totheir main administrative and military
headquarters in France, thecity of Rouen, located on the northwestern
France near the Normandy coast.
(27:47):
And the English motive forthis ecclesiastical trial was transparently
political.
English authorities wanted todiscredit Charles VII by demonstrating
that he owed his coronation toa witch, or at least a heretic.
Bishop Cauchon himself, in theopening of the trial, declared his
(28:08):
intent to inquire into actsquote contrary to the orthodox faith,
not only in our diocese, butin many others committed by Joan.
This trial was from itsinception, a political weapon meticulously
disguised as a pursuit ofreligious justice.
The ecclesiastical courtprovided the necessary veneer of
(28:30):
legitimacy for what was inessence, a state sponsored character
assassination designed toachieve a predestined outcome.
The charges against Joan,after months of preliminary investigation,
were eventually distilled into12 articles of accusation.
These articles weren'tprimarily about her actions on the
battlefield, but about thevery nature of her faith, her claims
(28:54):
of divine revelation, and herperceived defiance of church authority
and societal norms.
Some of these Articles ofAccusation noted Joan's certainty
of future events and occultknowledge through her saints revelations,
such as identifying unknownmen or a hidden sword.
Others questioned Joan'spreference for wearing men's clothes.
(29:17):
Joan had apparently claimedthat she was wearing such clothing
by God's command, refusing towear female attire even to receive
the Eucharist.
Yes, the accusations in the 12articles are a bit all over the place.
They emphasized her act ofsigning her name with Jesus Maria
and a cross, and of sometimeswarning that those who disobeyed
(29:38):
her would be killed by divineblows, claiming to act only by God's
revelation.
They also criticized her veryaction of leaving her parents against
their wishes at the age of 17to die, join the prince and wage
war.
The last article reveals howmuch Joan's confidence and refusal
to submit to their authorityfrustrated church leaders and theologians.
(30:01):
Apparently, Joan continued toreiterate refusal to do anything
contrary to God's commands,and would not submit her revelations
to the judgment of the Churchonly to God.
In essence, the chargespainted Joan as a dangerous heretic
who listened to demonicvoices, arrogantly defied the authority
of the Church, and grotesquelytransgressed against established
(30:25):
gender norms, all of whichwere capital offenses punishable
by death.
The opening of the trialrecorded itself, framed her actions
as utterly disregarding whatis honorable in the female sex, breaking
the bounds of modesty andforgetting all female decency.
And directly following thatstatement, it further condemns her,
(30:45):
stating that Joan, quote, haddisgracefully put on the clothing
of the male sex a striking andvile monstrosity contrary to the
Catholic faith, end quote.
This construction of her crimewas strategically brilliant for her
accusers.
It cleverly wove togetheraccusations of theological heresy,
such as claiming direct,unmediated revelation from God and
(31:10):
challenging the Church'sinterpretive authority.
And it also noted charges ofprofound social transgression, most
notably her adoption of maleattire and her role as a military
leader.
This dual approach broadenedthe perceived basis of her condemnation
and aimed to alien her fromvarious segments of society.
(31:30):
Her gender transgression, inparticular was explicitly linked
to heresy by the theologiansof the court.
The crime was not a singleact, but a pattern of behavior that
fundamentally challenged thepatriarchal and ecclesiastical power
structures.
The 15th century.
(32:08):
The formal trial of Joan ofARC began on February 21, 1431, in
Rowan.
Picture this scene.
A young woman, barely 19,uneducated in the complex subtleties
of theology and canon law,facing a formidable assembly of learned
doctors, bishops, abbots and lawyers.
(32:29):
In all, some 131 assessorsparticipated, almost all French,
but all firmly aligned withthe English cause.
Jones stood alone.
She had no lawyer to advise ordefend her.
Despite the immensepsychological pressure, the lack
of counsel, and the overtlyhostile environment, Jones responses,
(32:50):
meticulously recorded in thetrial transcripts, reveals astonishing
courage, native wit, and anunwavering conviction in her mission
and her faith.
When asked the loaded questionof whether she knew whether she was
in God's grace, a questiondesigned to trap her into either
presumption or despair, shefamously replied, if I am not, may
(33:14):
God place me there.
If I am, may God so keep me.
I should be the saddest in allthe world if I knew that I were not
in the grace of God.
Regarding her voices andvisions, she was unshakable.
Joan reportedly stated thatall I have done is by our Lord's
command.
I have done nothing in theworld but by the order of God.
(33:36):
End quote.
When repeatedly pressuredabout submitting her words and deeds
to the judgment of the Church,Joan made a crucial distinction.
She affirmed, quote, I believesurely that our Lord, the Pope of
Rome, the bishops and otherclergy are established to guard the
Christian faith and punishthose who are found wanting therein.
(33:57):
But as for me, for my doings,I submit myself only to the heavenly
church, that is to say, toGod, to the Virgin Mary, and to the
saints in paradise, end quote.
On the contentious issue ofher male attire, she remained resolute.
She explained that, quote, Iwould rather die than revoke what
God has made me do, end quote.
(34:19):
She also offered a starklypractical reason for her clothing.
A chilling indictment of her captors.
She said, quote, while I havebeen in prison, the English have
molested me when I was dressedas a woman.
I have done this to defend mymodesty, end quote.
This claim of attempted sexualassault in prison was a serious matter,
(34:39):
highlighting the dangers she faced.
Joan also presented aremarkably sophisticated theological
stance for being an unletteredpeasant girl.
She refused to submitunconditionally to the Church, that
is the earthly institutionrepresented by the very court trying
her.
But she continued to affirmher submission to God, Christ and
(35:03):
the saints in heaven.
This was, in fact, asophisticated stance, and, as you
noted, Elena, but it was alsoan incredibly perilous stance.
By drawing this distinction,she implicitly challenged the absolute
authority of Bishop Cauchon'scourt to judge the matters that she
believed were directlyordained by God.
(35:23):
If individuals could bypassthe earthly Church and appeal directly
to divine authority, then theChurch's role as the sole intermediary
and arbiter of faith wasfundamentally undermined.
This, from the court'sperspective, was the very essence
of heresy.
Her intelligence and what herjudges called skillfully evasive
(35:43):
answers clearly frustrated andangered her accusers.
Joan of Arc's trial, whichtook place February 21, 1431, was
riddled with flaws, even whenmeasured against the legal standards
of the 15th century.
Modern scholars like DanielHobbins, in his work the Trial of
Joan of Arc, emphasized this,and a review of his book bluntly
(36:05):
states that Bishop Cauchon,quote, violated every canon of a
fair trial and abused hisoffice, end quote.
The list of proceduralirregularities and violations of
canon law is extensive.
There was a clear lack of impartiality.
The court was packed with proEnglish and Burgundian clerics.
Bishop Cauchon himself haddeep political and financial ties
(36:28):
to the English.
Jones suffered illegal prisonconditions and accused of heresy.
She should have been held in achurch prison guarded by nuns to
protect her modesty and ensurefair treatment.
Instead, she was kept in asecure military prison, chained and
guarded by English soldiers,exposing her to constant threat and
(36:50):
abuse.
We also can't forget thatdespite Joan's youth and ignorance
of complex legal andtheological arguments, she was effectively
denied legal counsel.
When Bishop Cauchon offeredJoan a choice of advisor from among
the very assessors who werepart of the prosecution, Joan perhaps
wisely refused, stating sherelied on the counsel of her lord.
(37:11):
During the trial, questionswere often designed as theological
traps, too subtle even forsome of the judges.
There's evidence that notarieswere pressured, and the official
record itself may have beenselectively edited.
One examiner, who reportedlytried to counsel Joan Fairley, incurred
Bishop Cauchon's wrath and wasactually forced to flee the city
(37:34):
of Rowan.
And Joan apparently repeatedlyrequested that her case be taken
to the pope, right under canon law.
But this appeal wasconsistently ignored or denied by
Bishop Cauchon.
Perhaps the most contentiouspart of the trial took place on May
24, 1431.
After being forced to listento a public sermon and under direct
(37:56):
threat of immediate executionby burning, Joan signed a form of
abjuration, a documentrenouncing her visions and her male
clothing.
The exact content of what shesigned and whether she fully understood
it is heavily debated.
As noted before, Joan wasmostly illiterate.
Some sources even suggestedthat the document read to her was
(38:18):
different from the one she marked.
Just days later, Joan foundherself once again wearing men's
clothing in her cell.
Joan stated she resumed themto protect herself from sexual assaults
by the guards, or that herfemale clothing had been taken away.
Some accounts even suggest themale clothes were deliberately left
by the guards to entrap her.
Upon this relapse, BishopCauchon reportedly exclaimed to the
(38:42):
English commander, the Earl ofWarwick, farewell.
Be of good cheer.
It is done.
End quote.
A chilling indication that atrap had been successfully sprung.
This charge of being arelapsed heretic was the legal linchpin
for her execution.
Under canon law, the firsttime heretic who abjured could be
(39:03):
sentenced to life imprisonment.
But a relapsed heretic facedcertain death.
The entire sequence, theintense pressure to abjure, the highly
suspicious circumstances ofher resuming male attire, and the
swift final condemnationstrongly suggests a carefully orchestrated
legal maneuver designed toensure her death while maintaining
the facade of a due process.
(39:26):
The argument that her gendertransgression, wearing men's clothes
was central to hercondemnation as a heretic is kind
of compelling.
Theologians at the trial citedDeuteronomy, which forbids women
from wearing men's apparel,and argued that to claim God commanded
such an act was blasphemy.
(39:46):
Her defiance of traditionalgender roles was seen as an affront
to the natural and divineorder, a visible sign of her alleged
inner heresy.
On May 30, 1431, Joan of Arcwas officially condemned as a relapsed
heretic and handed over to thesecular authorities for execution.
As the church itself did notcarry out death sentences, the University
(40:08):
of Paris, which had beeninstrumental in her prosecution,
had already determined that ifshe persisted in her errors, she
would be her inevitable fateof death.
And as we recounted at thebeginning of our episode, Joan's
execution in the old marketsquare of Rowan was a public spectacle
intended to serve as a grimwarning and to solidify the verdict
(40:32):
of heresy in the public mind.
The bailiff, who had served asthe executor of Ritz during the trial
and accompanied Joan to thestake later testified at her nullification
trial.
He described her deep piety inher final moments.
She repeatedly asked for across, and an English soldier, moved
by pity, quickly fashioned asmall one for her out of two pieces
(40:54):
of wood, which she kissed andplaced in her bosom.
A formal crucifix was alsobrought from a nearby church and
held before her.
As the flames rose,eyewitnesses, including some of the
judges and English soldiers,were reportedly moved to tears by
her courage and her final prayers.
She died, it is said, with thename of Jesus repeatedly on her lips.
(41:18):
To prevent the gathering ofany relics that might foster a cult
of martyrdom, her body wasordered to be burnt three times and
her ashes were collected andthrown into the Sin River.
(41:46):
But the story doesn't end inthe ashes.
Twenty years later, thepolitical landscape of France had
dramatically shifted.
The Hundred Years War betweenEngland and France officially ended
in 1453.
Charles VII was firmlyestablished on the French throne,
and the English had beenlargely driven out of France.
(42:06):
It was in this new contextthat a process began to re examine
Joan's condemnation.
This was the NullificationTrial, also known as the Rehabilitation
Trial, formally initiated in1450 and concluding in 1456.
It was prompted by a petitionfrom Joan's elderly mother Isabelle
Rome and her two brothers andand authorized by Pope Calixtus iii.
(42:31):
The express purpose, as statedin the records, was quote to investigate
whether the trial ofcondemnation and its verdict had
been handled justly andaccording to ecclesiastical law.
An extensive investigation was undertaken.
Around115 witnesses were interviewed.
Villagers who knew Joan in herchildhood, soldiers who fought alongside
(42:53):
her, citizens of Orleans, and,significantly, several members of
the original 1431 tribunal itself.
Their testimonies painted apicture of Joan that was starkly
different from the oneconstructed by her accusers.
The findings of thenullification trial were formally
announced on July 7, 1456.
(43:14):
They stated that the earlier1431 trial and sentence were declared
null, invalid, worthless,without effect, and annihilated,
end quote.
The court found the originaltrial to be tainted by, quote, fraud,
calumny, iniquity andcontradiction, and manifest errors
of fact and of law.
End quote.
(43:34):
Joan of Arc was officiallycleared of all charges and her honor
restored.
The nullification trialmeticulously documented the numerous
errors of the first trial, theblatant partiality of the judges,
particularly Bishop Cauchon,the violent and intimidating conditions
of Joan's imprisonment, themalevolent behavior of her guards,
the use of insidious andtrapping questions, the falsification
(43:57):
of articles of accusation, andthe abjuration obtained through extreme
duress and likely deceit.
A key finding was that thecondemnation trial had deliberately
excluded or suppressedeyewitness testimonies that would
have been favorable to Joan, agrave procedural violation.
The nullification trial wasnot merely about correcting a past
(44:20):
judicial error for Joan's sakeor for her families.
It was also an act of profoundpolitical significance for King Charles
vii.
His reign had been irrevocablylegitimized by Joan's victories,
which were attributed todivine sanction.
Her condemnation as a hereticand a witch, therefore cast a dangerous
(44:42):
shadow on his own piety andhis right to rule.
Thus, clearing Joan's name wasalso essential for clearing any stain
from his own.
Joan of Arc's journey fromcondemned heretic to recognized saint
was a long one.
She was beatified by theCatholic Church in 1909 and finally
canonized as St.
Joan of Arc on May 16, 1920,by Pope Benedict XV.
(45:06):
Her legacy is extraordinarilycomplex and has been claimed by an
astonishingly diverse array ofgroups across the centuries.
She is, of course, apreeminent national heroine of France,
a potent symbol of Frenchunity, patriotism and resistance
against foreign invaders.
And French politicians fromacross the political spectrum, from
(45:27):
the left to the far right,have invoked her image to support.
Their causes beyond France.
She's often viewed as an earlyfeminist icon, a young woman who
shattered the oppressivegender roles of her time, leading
armies and directly advising kings.
Her contemporary, thepioneering female writer Christine
de Pizan, celebrated Joan ashaving a heart quote greater than
(45:49):
any man's Historian.
Helen Castor, in her biographyof Joan, observes that Joan of Arc
is a hero championed by suchvastly different religious and political
groups that her story becomesboth deeply unique and universally
resonant.
Yet Castor also wisely notesthat it becoming all things to all
people, the complex, oftencontradictory human girl has sometimes
(46:14):
been lost to myth.
Joan was, as Castor quotesfrom one perspective, quote, a symbol,
not a savior, end quote.
A phrase that captures theendearing tension between her perceived
divine role and the harshpolitical realities that ultimately
consumed her.
This enduring power ofambiguity and reinterpretation is
(46:35):
perhaps the key to her lasting fascination.
Joan's story, her motivations,the true nature of her visions, these
remain subjects of debate and wonder.
Was she divinely inspired?
Well, Joan clearly thought so.
Did she suffer from someneurological condition?
Some have speculated thatmight have been the case.
Even you, maybe, dear listeners.
(46:56):
But most scholars find littleevidence for such claims, noting
she displayed none of thetypical objective symptoms?
Or was she simply a youngwoman of extraordinary conviction
and courage in a time thatdesperately needed both?
The last one seems the mostlikely to me, but maybe it was a
little of all three.
We'll never fully know.
(47:17):
The crimes she was accused ofheresy, witchcraft, defying the church,
wearing men's clothing are not static.
For her accusers in 1431, itwas a clear cut case, or at least
one that they were determinedto make appear.
So for later generations, thecrime might be seen as the profound
injustice she suffered or hercourageous defiance of oppressive
(47:39):
conventions.
Her story continues to forceeach era to confront its own definitions
of faith, authority, genderand justice.
Her story, raw and resonanteven after six centuries, forces
us to ask fundamental questions.
Who defines what a crime is?
And when the powerful twistlaws and religion to serve their
(48:00):
own ends, who then are thetrue criminals in history's unforgiving
gates?
That's all for now.
Until next time.
Stay curious.
(48:22):
Sat.
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